


Stranded

by sara_wolfe



Series: Ironhusbands Week [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Lost in the Woods, MIT Era, Stranded, brief appearance by Rocket Racoon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-13 04:08:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20576213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sara_wolfe/pseuds/sara_wolfe
Summary: Escaping their kidnappers was easy. Now Rhodey and Tony have to find their way out of the woods.





	Stranded

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Ironhusbands Week. Prompt: stranded

“I’m sure civilization is just over the next hill.”

Tony dragged the back of his hand across his forehead, wiping away a line of blood, sweat, and grime. “That’s what you said two hills ago, Platypus.” 

“Well, this time I’m really sure,” Jim said, confidently. A second later, the wan smile dropped from his face and he muttered, “…maybe.”

Tony found a burst of energy that let him catch up to Jim, grabbing the older boy by the shoulder and making him stop. “This isn’t your fault, you know.”

“If I’d been faster,” Jim started to argue, but Tony shook his head, cutting him off. 

“Honey Bear, take it from someone who’s fended off at least half a dozen kidnapping attempts in the last few years,” he said, seriously, “there was nothing more you could have done to stop those guys from grabbing us.”

“Yeah, but they didn’t even want you,” Jim protested. “They only stuffed you in the van because they needed to shut you up.” Realizing how that sounded as soon as it left his mouth, Jim winced. “Sorry, I mean-”

“I know what you mean,” Tony assured him. “But, c’mon, you really think I’m going to let my best friend get kidnapped without me?”

“We’ve known each other two days, and I’m already your best friend?” Jim asked, giving him a skeptical look. 

“Best friend, kidnap-and-ransom buddy, same thing,” Tony told him. “C’mon, Sugar Bear, I think you’re right about that next hill.”

* * *

Jim was not right about the next hill. Or the one after that, or the one after that. Jim hadn’t imagined that they’d have an easy time escaping from their kidnappers (and where Tony had learned how to get them out of knotted ropes that fast, Jim would love to know), but he hadn’t realized just how far out in the middle of nowhere they’d been taken. They’d been moving for hours now and all they seemed to do was get deeper and deeper into the woods they’d first escaped into. 

And he was so very tired. 

“Is it possible the kidnappers took us across state lines?” he asked, stopping and bending double as he dragged in a painful breath. “Cause I think we’re in the mountains somewhere.”

He’d thought that ROTC kept him in peak physical shape, but they’d been going steadily uphill for the last thirty minutes, the incline getting sharper by the minute, and he was struggling. His legs burned, his lungs burned, and there was a painful hitch in his side after he’d tripped and fallen on a sharp rock; there was no blood, no sign of internal bleeding, but he was starting to think that he’d dislocated a rib or something. 

A little further down the hill, hugging a tree to keep from falling backward, Tony didn’t look much better. His face was an alarming shade of red and he didn’t look nearly as sweaty as Jim knew he should. The gash on his forehead had stopped bleeding a while back, but the scab that covered it looked like it could come off in the slightest breeze. 

Still, he peeled his fingers away from their stranglehold of the tree, forcing one foot in front of the other as he dragged himself up the hill to where Jim was resting. He swayed when he stopped, and Jim reached out to grab him by the arm and keep him from sending himself ass-over-teakettle back down the hillside. 

“I think we’re somewhere in the Appalachians,” Tony told him, his voice unusually grim. “It’s the closest mountain range to Massachusetts, and if we hadn’t escaped, our kidnappers could have kept us hidden there for months without anyone finding us.”

“Only we did escape,” Jim pointed out. After a second, he added, “But the only thing that did was ensure that we’re wandering further and further into the mountains, where we’ll still be for months without anyone finding us.”

“If we don’t get eaten by a bear, first,” Tony told him. They stared at each other in growing horror, and then Tony clapped his hands abruptly, startling both Jim and a bird perched on a nearby tree. “Okay, enough of this! We are MIT students. We are smart, we are capable, and we just escaped a couple of kidnappers who couldn’t tie a decent knot to save their lives. Which, come to think of it, might have saved ours. Not that I think they would have killed us, too much of a risk, but you never can tell with the stupid kidnappers, stupid kidnappers can be the most unpredictable-”

“Tony, you’re rambling,” Jim said, gently. 

“Right,” Tony said, clapping again like the sound was helping him think. Jim only hoped it wasn’t also helping their kidnappers find them. “Where was I? Smart, capable…oh, yeah.” He reached up to grab Jim by the shoulders, tugging him forward until they were eye to eye. “We are not going to die in these stupid woods, surrounded by birds, and trees, and that deranged raccoon that’s been following us for the last two miles. We’re gonna die like self-respecting MIT engineering majors: in a lab accident involving questionable safety protocols and a massive lack of sleep!”

That startled a laugh out of Jim, and Tony grinned up at him. “C’mon, Honeybunch, we’re burning daylight.”

* * *

“Hey, Tony,” Jim asked, a few hours later, “do you call me all those nicknames because you can’t remember my actual name?”

He propped himself up on an elbow from the small patch of ground he’d cleared for himself, looking at Tony lying a few feet away. Tony was lying flat on his back, one arm thrown over his eyes to block out the last of the light as the sun disappeared behind the trees. He was so still that Jim thought he’d fallen asleep, but then he turned his head in Jim’s direction, moving his arm but keeping his eyes closed. 

“You’re James Rupert Rhodes,” Tony told him, giving him a small smile. “But your name is so ordinary, and you are so very much not. You need a spectacular name, my darling Rhodey, light of my life.”

“We’ve known each other two days,” Jim felt compelled to point out. 

“You gave me a cookie and half your coffee during early-morning orientation,” Tony reminded him. “Once you feed me, I’m yours for life.”

“Is that why you got yourself kidnapped for me?” Jim asked, seizing on the opportunity to finally, hopefully get some answers. “Because I gave you a cookie?”

“It may not have been my brightest move, I’ll grant you,” Tony admitted, a sheepish tone coloring his voice. “And when the Deans find out, I may get kicked out of MIT for a stunning lack of common sense and self-preservation. But I saw those guys grabbing you, and I knew your chances were better with me than on your own.”

“How do you figure that?” Jim asked. 

Sure, Tony had been really handy at getting out of those ropes back in the cabin they’d been held in, but he couldn’t have been hoping to fight the kidnappers off, could he? He was scrawny, barely a hundred pounds soaking wet, and Jim imagined he’d have all the fighting capability of a kitten.

“Simple, Platypus,” Tony said. (and he must have been really tired if he was already starting to repeat his ridiculous nicknames that Jim was absolutely not becoming enamored with. No way.) “I’m Tony freaking Stark. I’m Howard Stark’s legacy, his only heir. I’m the most valuable hostage in pretty much the entire country. I figured once they knew who I was, they’d get so greedy that they’d abandon any plans they had for you and try to ransom me back to my parents. And that would bring down a whole hoard of bodyguards, and SI’s military contacts, and SHIELD - private paramilitary firm Dad works with that he thinks I don’t know about,” he added, seeing Jim’s confused look. “They try to be secretive, but they’re really bad at it. And I’m really nosy.”

Jim laughed, wincing when the movement jostled his sore ribs. “I can’t believe you got yourself deliberately kidnapped.”

“Why not?” Tony asked, sounding genuinely baffled. “You’d have done the same for me.” 

And the hell of it was, Jim thought, that Tony was right. He’d have dived right in if he’d seen the younger boy in trouble. He just hadn’t expected the same thing out of Tony Stark, of all people. But he was beginning to think that all of his expectations of Tony were wrong.

“Thanks, man,” he said, into the growing darkness. “It sucks that you’re here with me, because you’re in danger and you shouldn’t be, but this would suck a hell of a lot more if you weren’t here with me.”

He was tired, and he was hurt, and he only hoped that he was making sense. But he must not have been as incoherent as he sounded, because Tony wiggled across the space separating them without bothering to get up, curling up next to Jim with a sigh. He carefully slung an arm across Jim’s stomach, lower than his injured ribs, and rested his head on Jim’s shoulder. 

“There’s no one else I’d rather be kidnapped and lost in the middle of the mountains with,” he said, solemnly. “Now put your other arm around me and cuddle up. It’s cold and we’re sharing body heat. Didn’t they teach you anything about survival in the ROTC?”

“Do you think it’s safe for both of us to fall asleep?” Jim asked, turning slowly onto his side in order to hold onto Tony. “Shouldn’t one of us stay awake to keep watch?”

“Nah, Rodrigo’s got that covered,” Tony said, his voice cracking on a yawn.

“Rodrigo?” Jim asked, and then he looked up at the sound of angry chittering from overhead. “Tony, don’t tell me you named the raccoon that’s been following us.”

“His full name is Rocket Rodrigo Stark,” Tony said, sleepily, “and he’s my second best friend. You’re my first,” he told Jim, like he thought Jim might be offended by the thought of being usurped by a raccoon. Jim was, a little, but he wasn’t about to admit that to Tony. 

“You can’t adopt a raccoon,” he said, instead. 

“Not adopting him,” Tony reassured him. “Rodrigo’s his own raccoon; I wouldn’t want to keep him somewhere he didn’t want to be.”

“I think you’ve got a concussion,” Jim said. “Your rambling is making even less sense than usual.”

“You’re probably right,” Tony admitted, his voice starting to slur. “I’m gonna sleep, now. Night, Rodrigo!” he called out with surprising force, up into the trees, and then he practically passed out in Jim’s arms. 

Jim curled in closer to Tony, ignoring the ache in his ribs in favor of getting as close to Tony as he could. When he looked up into the trees, he thought he saw a pair of glowing eyes staring down at him. “Yeah, night, Rodrigo,” he muttered, softly, closing his eyes and letting blackness overtake him.

* * *

From his branch overlooking the kids, Rocket popped his broken ear piece back into his ear; it was too dark to keep working on the delicate equipment and he didn’t want to risk losing it. He’d keep working on it in the morning, hopefully be able to send out a signal for Groot to find him and pick him up off this backwater planet. 

And until that time, he’d keep an eye on the kids until they found help. Not like he had anything better to do, and besides, the scrawny one reminded Rocket a lot of himself.

**Author's Note:**

> **decades later, when Tony's in the hospital after miraculously surviving the Infinity Stones:**
> 
> **Nurse:** "Sir, I can't let you into the ICU; you're a raccoon."
> 
> **Rocket:** "Fuck you, lady, I'm a Stark."


End file.
